Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 121 Opening a Banquet and Introducing the Ancestral Tent (6)

A cold moon in the sky shines on the thousands of miles of sand dunes, and the wind howls.Qiemo City, with a household of no more than [-] and a population of no more than [-], hangs alone in an oasis in the hinterland of the Great Quicksand.The city walls here are narrow, and the Chengying Seventh Battalion can only camp outside the city. The sergeants trekked thousands of miles and finally reached the land. This night, the exhaustion of a month was exuded. After the night was quiet, there was loud snoring everywhere in the barracks.

Zhou Yuanzhong, the commander of the Chengying Army, was carefully reading the marching conditions written by the three marching simas along the way.He watched and pondered, until the night was dead, and then he stood up, stretched himself, and stepped out of the tent.Every time he camped, he would personally patrol twice, which was a habit he had developed when he was a centurion.

Zhao Xingde heard the sound of several footsteps approaching from far away, turned around and saw that it was Zhou Yuanzhong walking towards him.

"Zhao De." Zhou Yuanzhong immediately recognized this unexpected sergeant.

"General." Zhao Xingde gave a military salute neither humble nor overbearing.

"You did a good job in this marching training." Zhou Yuanzhong asked with a smile, "Where did you learn to look at the celestial instrument?"

"My friend is a scribe from the Tianji Academy of the Bachelor's Office."

"Well," Zhou Yuanzhong nodded, and suddenly asked: "When Pu Changze was discussing the road, why didn't you insist on convincing the other ten chiefs?"

Zhao Xingde hesitated for a moment, then replied: "My qualifications are shallow, even if I try to persuade you by force, it will only make the ten princes even more reluctant to listen."

"So you just gave up?" Zhou Yuanzhong's face became serious, and he said in a deep voice, "A military battle is dangerous, and if military affairs are not properly made, it will kill people. Will you watch them die in the future?"

"This..." Zhao Xingde was taken aback, and Zhou Yuanzhong said slowly: "A general has five virtues, wisdom, faith, benevolence, courage, and strictness. What you lack now is the word 'courage'."

The wind and sand were still whistling, Zhao Xingde was speechless, Zhou Yuanzhong patted him on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice: "If you are right, even if tens of thousands of people disagree, you must drag thousands of people to the right path. Not only kill The enemy must be brave, the rescue must be courageous, and it is even more courageous to have ideas." After speaking, he turned and left, leaving Zhao De alone there.

Zhao Xingde looked at Zhou Yuanzhong's back with mixed feelings.The sound of the wind was like a ghost crying, and the iron armor on his body was tinkling. In the early morning of the next day, Zhou Yuanzhong arranged for the sergeants of Chengying's seventh battalion to elect a centurion.Because the Chengying Battalion usually carries out dispatching military affairs, in each centurion, except for the archer, there are no restrictions on the number of other arms. In the future, everyone must master almost all combat skills.In the words of the school lieutenant, "Don't count on reinforcements, and don't count on friendly troops. Fight whatever battle you encounter."

Zhao Xingde was unexpectedly elected as a centurion, in addition to Wang Tongdeng, Deng Xi, Liu Shangyou, and Ding Dayong.What was even more surprising was that Du Chuijiao not only recommended Zhao Xingde as the centurion, but was also willing to serve under his command.

Xia Guo's military system, in addition to generals with real positions and real power, has two special identities: generals with power and generals with authority.General Quan refers to a person who independently commands troops to fight, but the troops he leads are less than one army. Strictly speaking, General Quan is not yet a general.A general refers to an officer who is regarded as a general because of his important status, although he does not lead the army independently.Usually, the captain of the Dragon Tooth Army is the general.The Chengying Camp performs military dispatches outside the country, and the school lieutenant of the Chengying Army is General Quan who leads the troops independently.

The general must be appointed by the General's Mansion, and the Huguo Mansion agrees, and the emperor worships the general with a seal.Therefore, the captain of Chengying Seventh Battalion could not be elected by these fledgling centurions, but an experienced officer named Duan Huaixian appointed by the General's Mansion.

That night, a banquet was held to celebrate the officer's new post, and the lead army brought musicians to play the breakout music, the singer danced in front, and the couple caught a toast and made a chaotic mess.Zhao Xingde and other four centurions joined hands to pay respects to Generals Zhou Yuanzhong and Luo Zongmeng, and General Duan Huaixianquan, and then fought several battles with several centurions leading the army. Wang Tongdeng and Deng Xi were already drunk, and Liu Shangyou , Ding Dayong is also crumbling.Zhao Xingde staggered back to his seat, and was grabbed by Jian Cheng, whose face was flushed from drinking, and said to Zhao Xingde with a wine glass: "Old Zhao, today's drink, five centurions Fighting against the enemy for several times, only you survived, give us Minghong a face, come, drink again."

Zhao Xingde couldn't evade it, so he could only finish the cup with him, Jian Cheng went over, and several other commanders came one after another. Dazed, he sat on the ground paralyzed by the corner of the table, stroking his stomach and hiccupping, suddenly a wine glass stretched out in front of him, Zhao Xingde looked up, but it was the old ten-officer Du Chuanjiao.

Du Chuijiao's face was also flushed, and he looked more and more like a good old man. He said with his tongue out, "Zhao Dutou, I didn't ask you to talk too much at the inn that day, so don't take offense." Zhao Xingde was drunk, and he listened Annoyed, he pushed him and said angrily, "Am I such a petty villain?"

Du Chuijiao smiled, and leaned forward and said: "Old Du is still very old at this age, so I don't say anything, and I know that among the five, you are the only one who knows how to respect the elderly and the virtuous. " After finishing speaking, he touched the cups with Zhao Xingde, and both of them drank it down.

Zhao Xingde only felt that Du Chuijiao's head seemed to have become two, he stretched out his hand and waved it in front of his eyes, and said with his tongue out, "Old Du, there is one thing I don't understand, and I need you to explain it?" "What? , Speak!" Du Chuijiao slapped the table and said in a rough voice.

"It seems to you that most of the applicants for Chengying Camp are young men. Why are you an old man joining in the fun?"

Du Chuijiao was also very drunk. He didn't think it was disobedient, but sighed: "People say that young people don't work hard, and the elders are sad. I, Du Chuijiao, began to read at the age of seven, and I drew bows and arrows at the age of eight. In this life, I have sweated a lot. Not less than others, but just stuck on a senior leader." He patted Zhao Xingde on the shoulder and said: "How many people have been promoted from me, and you are not bad."

Zhao Xingde smiled and said: "Then you are a lucky general. You haven't said how to return to the Chengying Army to apply for the recruitment."

Du Chuijiao sighed: "It's not for my family's second, third, fourth, and fifth. They can't do literature or martial arts. They can only be shady households. There are many people outside Chengying Camp. The old man saves more money and sends them to Shishan. Go and get the land grant, get married and start a business." After speaking, he squeezed out two old tears and sobbed: "I can't do it in literature, I can't do it in martial arts. But the sweat is not less than others." Because of his seniority, this time For the time being, Xingjun became the convener of the military meeting of the ten commanders. He thought he would have a chance to be elected as the centurion, but when it came time for the election, almost no one obeyed him.

Zhao Xingde was drunk, seeing him crying sadly, he patted him on the shoulder and said: "Old Du, if I retire in the future, I will do big business." He hiccupped, emphasized his tone, and stretched out his hands to gesture. : "Big deal!" Du Chuijiao watched Zhao Xingde draw a big cake in the air with wide eyes, and then heard him say: "When the time comes, I will call your home, the boss, the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth, come and help me with things together." !” He spoke so passionately that Du Chuijiao burst into tears of gratitude and said, “Zhao Dutou, I’ve sold my old life to you!” The two of you were talking nonsense, and they fell down unconsciously. fell asleep together.

The next day, after three poles, the [-] heroes of the Chengying Seventh Battalion woke up. The school lieutenant Duan Huaixian smiled and said, "Everyone, if you wake up from alcohol, put on your armor first, and run ten laps around Qiemo City." Well, those who haven’t woken up, run ten more laps to sober up.” Zhao Xingde and others complained so much that they had to put on iron armor weighing tens of catties, and ran around Qiemo City. It didn’t take long for many people to put on the hangover from last night. The wine and bile were spit out.

Duan Huaixian's smiling nature was fully demonstrated in the next two months.Because everyone in the Chengying Army may encounter any kind of battle, he requires archers to also know how to fight in close quarters and charge on horseback. Zhao Xingde, who is weak in this respect, has become the target of killing chickens and monkeys. Zhao Xingde is the target of every swordsmanship class , after being knocked down countless times, he was barely able to support a dozen moves.Then, Duan Huaixian asked him to run around the city wall alone, euphemistically saying, "Those who are poor in close combat must at least learn how to escape." He also said that Zhao Xingde's physical strength was amazing, but his waist and abdomen were not strong enough, his lower body was not stable, and his arms were weak. He couldn't exert all his strength during the fight, so he was asked to hang upside down on the top of the wall and do a belly push-up.The sergeants all said that Zhao Xingde suddenly became a centurion because of his lack of qualifications, and Captain Duan tormented him like this to vent his anger on those who disobeyed him.

In addition to personal skills, the centurion learns the command of the centurion and the deca, making sure they understand the centurion's orders.And Zhao Xingde and other centurions also had to learn the command of ten-man teams, hundred-man teams, and entire battalions.

Later, Duan Huaixian found more than 20 prisoners from Ross, Dashi, and Turkic through unknown channels, and asked them to fight against each other.On the side, he instructed the Chengying Army's close combat skills, and identified the fighting habits, flaws, and strengths of people of different races.Later, Duan Huaixian personally acted as the enemy and asked Zhao Xingde and others to fight him. Zhao Xingde always lost more than he won, Duan Huaixian said that it was because he had too little action and was not strong enough.

Three months of training passed by in a hurry.Under the supervision of General Zhou Yuanzhong and tortured by Captain Duan Huaixian, the [-] soldiers of Chengying's Seventh Battalion became more and more united against each other, and their friendship became deeper and deeper.The final training was another long-distance march, returning to Puchangze along the Qiemo River, then turning north, crossing the quicksand along the north-south commercial road, marching to Yanqi Town, and then crossing the Tianshan Mountains to Gaochang.

There is a very deep lake in Gaochang, which is said to be the closest to the underworld in Xia, called Moonlight Lake.It is surrounded by towering snow-capped mountains in the northwest, and a vast desert in the east. There are no fish in the lake, and mirages often appear around it, but it is full of swamps, and it is impossible for other creatures except seabirds to enter the center of the lake.In the deepest part of the lake are the secrets that the Turks, Rus, Dashi, Khitan, and Song could only dream of.There are hundreds of white vials lying here, all covered with sand and moss.

These porcelain vases are all fired from the ashes of the best Dawan horses, and contain the ashes of strong men.Let them still be able to ride horses and kill enemies in the underworld.The exquisite text on the bottle records the name, place of origin and position of the deceased.This is where Chengying's robe Ze, who died in previous battles, is buried.

On the banks of the Moonlight Lake, Zhou Yuanzhong and Duan Huaixian held a military ceremony for the seventh battalion of Chengying, and awarded the military flag of the Chengying Army.This is a large blue flag with no handwriting on it, but under the setting sun, there will be a faint white sword shadow appearing.